Davan Kel

Human Engineer. Shipborn. The one who keeps the Ember Drift running.

Davan Kel is a broad-shouldered man in his early forties, perpetually squinting into something that needs fixing. He talks to machines more than to people, not because he dislikes people, but because machines respond predictably. He bought a partial stake in the Ember Drift two years ago because it was the first thing he had ever owned a share of, and he intends to keep it running until the hull gives out. Whatever that takes.

Hook: Someone at the firm that left Davan its debt wants the work order behind that debt to stay buried, and has started asking where he docks.

All characteristics start at 2. Free adjustment: Intellect +1, Charisma −1. Intellect then bought to 4.

Wounds (12): ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Strain (12): ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Skills

Profession skills (Shipborn and Engineer): Pilot, Craft, Perception, Streetwise, Science, Electronics, Athletics, Fortitude.

Species Package

Human: Familiar Infrastructure, Cultural Adaptability (once per session), standard gravity thresholds.

Talents

• Tinkerer (Tier 1, free starting talent): when repairing with scavenged, mismatched, or improvised components, remove 1 Bane Die caused by those components. With at least an hour and any plausible salvage, Davan can attempt a repair that would otherwise need a specific part he does not have.
• Stress Engineer (Tier 2): remove 1 Bane Die caused by time pressure, danger, noise, or distraction from Craft or Electronics checks made under fire, during active system failures, or in crisis conditions.

Attacks

Davan carries no weapon. Unarmed: (Might 2, Unarmed 0), Damage 2, Crit 5, Engaged.

XP Spent

Starting XP 110. XP carried forward: 5 XP.

This is the worked example in the Player's Guide, Chapter Three, with 15 of the 20 XP he carried forward now spent on Perception 1 and Stress Engineer.

Gear

• Starting kit: working clothes, personal communicator, emergency rations for three days.
• Engineer profession kit: basic toolkit, diagnostic scanner, bypass cables and splices, two canisters of patch compound.
• Bought: Engineer's kit (ship-rated) (400cr), Portable power cell (100cr), Glow-rods and hand lamp (20cr).
• Starting credits: 900cr; spent 520cr; left 380cr.

The ship-rated engineer's kit adds 1 Boon Die to Craft checks on ship systems, and the diagnostic scanner adds 1 Boon Die to Craft checks to find a fault before a repair (Player's Guide, Chapter Nine). Davan owns no armor or pressure suit yet.

Languages: Standard. The GM may grant Funtari for his Kerath Station upbringing.

Background

Davan grew up on Kerath Station, a mid-ring industrial colony in Funtari space where the work was steel fabrication and the culture was shift length and debt management. He learned engines before he could read contract law, which he has regretted at intervals ever since. A corporate logistics firm hired him young, worked him long, and then shed its fringe operations during a restructuring that left him holding a maintenance debt he did not incur. He took the buy-in on the Ember Drift from a Dhoran salvager who wanted out. He has never discussed the debt with the crew and does not intend to.

Playing Davan in Dead Drop at Harrowspan

Davan is the crew's safety margin. In Scene Five he takes Engineering: Boost Power, Manage Heat or Vent Heat, and Emergency Repair are his Actions (Chapter Nine), and his ship-rated engineer's kit adds 1 Boon Die to Craft checks on ship systems. When the Sentinel's ion fire stacks System Damage on the Ember Drift, his Emergency Repair is the only thing pulling it back down, and Stress Engineer removes a Bane Die from those checks under fire.

In Harrowspan, use Davan as the one who notices practical details others miss: that the cargo hold was repressurized recently, that the docking collar shows scorch marks, that a relay terminal has been accessed in the last twelve hours. He will say the honest thing at the wrong moment; let Corin take the lead in a negotiation.